Learning to live with chronic pain and illness gracefully

Well.

Things went relatively well at the neruo. Many tests were conducted on the most comfortable doctor’s couch I’ve ever encountered- I seriously should call and ask where they bought since I want one! I am somewhat glad that I did not know about the needle part of the tests beforehand- I just would have stressed out more. Unfortunately, all the poking and shocking sent the pain in my right arm haywire. By the time I left I was exhausted and in ridiculous pain- I was laughing and crying at the same time, so I called out of work and just came home, took a nerve-dampener and crawled into bed.

So that’s what happened. Well, what did it mean…?

While there is slight loss of conduction I’m pretty normal. The numbness does not appear to be related to damage in any way, which is very good.

The bad?

There’s not much that I can do about it. I know have two soft elbow wraps and need to keep my arms as straight as possible while sleeping. Ditto for computer-work, which is most of my day, every day. I’m to stop the meds since they’re only masking the issue. It should fade on its own over time (6 months to a year) but if it doesn’t it’s back for the same tests again to check for degeneration. My only option at that point if it’s cubital tunnel is surgery.

To say the least, I’m not super-thrilled with this conclusion. I seriously feel that there ought to be a limit on the number of things that I “just have to live with”. It’s good that it shouldn’t get worse as long as I don’t do something stupid, but… I’m just tired.